Works

Pressure resistance technologies that make it possible to successfully perform deep sea research activities 2021.07.21

Tsurumi-Seiki’s pressure resistance technologies and the Shinkai 6500

shinkai 6500

Overview

The Shinkai 6500 is a crewed research submersible developed in 1989 by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). Shinkai 6500’s mission is to investigate earthquakes, the movement of the plates that make up the Earth’s crust and the interior of the Earth, the evolution of organisms, deep sea organisms, and thermal and resource cycles.

It has studied the topology and geology of the world’s seafloor, successfully completing its 1,500th voyage in 2017. It is one of only seven crewed research submersibles in the world, and plays a central role in deep sea research activities. Tsurumi-Seiki’s pressure resistance technologies have been used in the Shinkai 6500’s pressure gauge.

Project

Observation devices that make it possible to successfully perform deep sea research activities

As its name implies, the Shinkai 6500 crewed research submersible was developed to perform research at depths of up to 6,500 meters. The ocean floor plates of the oceanic trench on the Pacific Ocean side of Japan begin undergoing subduction at depths of roughly 6,200 to 6,300 meters, so intensive observation at these has been seen as essential. The Shinkai 6500 project required observation equipment that could withstand the pressure at these tremendous depths.

The Shinkai 6500’s pressure gauge

Tsurumi-Seiki provided support to the Shinkai 6500 project by supplying the pressure resistance technologies used in the manufacturing of the Shinkai 6500’s pressure gauge. Since then, Tsurumi-Seiki has designed and manufactured products which leverage pressure resistance technologies. We have observation equipment that can be used in the special environmental observation performed in deep sea locations.